Philip Moeller

Moeller, Philip (1880–1958), director and producer. The native New Yorker was educated at New York University and Columbia before co‐founding the Washington Square Players, where he directed several productions. After that group disbanded, Moeller served in similar capacities for the Theatre Guild. Among the many Guild plays he staged were The Guardsman (1924), They Knew What They Wanted (1924), Ned McCobb's Daughter (1926), The Second Man (1927), Strange Interlude (1928), Dynamo (1929), Hotel Universe (1930), Elizabeth the Queen (1930), Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), Biography (1932), Ah, Wilderness! (1933), and End of Summer (1936). He called himself an “inspirational” director, preferring to let himself and his actors improvise as they rehearsed. Theresa Helburn has written, “His timing was brilliant and in comedy he was unequaled. But he had his blind spots. We used to say rather wistfully that it would be nice if Phil would read a play before he produced it.”